My passion is to help others who are experiencing the significant losses associated with religious de-conversion. We cannot mourn what we don't acknowledge. As we begin to understand our grief, we can look at building a healthy new secular life. "
- Janice Selbie, RPC
Founder:
Divorcing Religion, CORT, and
Shameless Sexuality
Religion would have us starve to death at the buffet table of life. I want my clients to swap judgment for curiosity, and dig in!
About Divorcing Religion & Religious Trauma Syndrome
Her life story is one of incredible transformation, from the chilling realities of Margaret Atwood’s “Handmaid’s Tale” to modern renaissance woman, exploring life from the domestic to the erotic on her own terms.
Janice was born and raised in a charismatic Christian home, attending Pentecostal,
Vineyard, and other Evangelical churches before eventually marrying a man who would become a pastor. In her 30s she became ultraconservative, donning a head-covering, homeschooling their children, and rejecting any vestiges of secular life (TV, radio, music, newspapers, magazines, etc.). “I referred to myself as ‘Mennocostal,’ frequently attending closed Mennonite churches run by the Holdeman Mennonites.”
It wasn’t until her 40s that Janice began experiencing doubts about her deeply held faith. As her marriage unraveled, her questions grew. She found herself wondering about the impact of religion and religious trauma syndrome on sexuality, gender roles and equality, social justice, and more.
“Not permitted to explore these questions, I felt like a beach ball held beneath the water for too long. My sadness, confusion, and anger threatened to explode if something didn't change.”
After ending her decades-long marriage, Janice went back to school to attain her Diploma of Applied Psychology and Counselling.
“My passion is to help others who are experiencing the multiple significant losses associated with religious de-conversion and religious trauma syndrome. My own journey could have been easier if I had been able to connect with even one other person who had walked away from their faith and built a healthy life afterward.”
These painful experiences influenced Janice to develop the Divorcing Religion Workshop so that others could gain knowledge and tools to help with their own journey out of fundamentalist religions.
In the workshop, participants learn to:
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Recognize the psychological and physiological symptoms associated with Religious Trauma Syndrome
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Gain perspective about their journey
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Build supportive new secular communities
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Avoid being ensnared by other forms of fundamentalism in the future
Vision
A world free from the religious trauma syndrome caused by religious fundamentalism.
Mission
To offer hope and help to those recovering from Religious Trauma Syndrome, empowering survivors with a solid platform on which to build a healthy secular life.
Values
Courage, Curiosity, Candor, Respect.